About the Lecture
1. Tobacco: Is it god’s gift or smoke of the devil?
– Tobacco from ancient Maya times and cigarette rod made by baking clay
– Discovery of tobacco by Columbus and spread it to Europe
– From treatment to major products that increase health
– Politics of tobacco, changes in the form of tobacco
– Meaning of tobacco in Latin America (especially Cuba)
2. Sugar, ‘‘white gold“, changes the world
– From the age of honey to the age of sugar cane ‘sweet reed’
– The rise of sugar, brutal slavery of sugar cane plantations and importation of black slaves
– Anti-slavery movement and revolution in the US, France and Haiti
– Abolition of slavery systems and birth of contract workers (new workers for producing sugar)
Sugarcane originated in tropical New Guinea, dating back to approximately 8,000 B.C. It reached the Philippines and India 2,000 years later, eventually spreading to South China. The earliest record of sugar was found in India in 400 B.C., where sugar was offered to the gods. From ancient times, sugar has been a healing and medicinal substance, as reflected in the English idiom, “A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.” Exploring the history of sugar, from its transformation into massive sugar factories that shaped Cuba’s destiny to the brutal slave system on sugarcane plantations, the importation of enslaved Black people, the abolitionist movement, the revolutions in the United States, France, and Haiti, and the birth of contract laborers (new workers engaged in sugar production), this lecture traces the journey and trajectory of sugar, “white gold,” until it became an everyday thing on tables worldwide.
Sugarcane originated in tropical New Guinea, dating back to approximately 8,000 B.C. It reached the Philippines and India 2,000 years later, eventually spreading to South China. The earliest record of sugar was found in India in 400 B.C., where sugar was offered to the gods. From ancient times, sugar has been a healing and medicinal substance, as reflected in the English idiom, “A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.” Exploring the history of sugar, from its transformation into massive sugar factories that shaped Cuba’s destiny to the brutal slave system on sugarcane plantations, the importation of enslaved Black people, the abolitionist movement, the revolutions in the United States, France, and Haiti, and the birth of contract laborers (new workers engaged in sugar production), this lecture traces the journey and trajectory of sugar, “white gold,” until it became an everyday thing on tables worldwide.
